Who said “The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story.…”?

Verified

Carl Bernstein. A published source records them saying or writing it.

SourceAn A-Z of cultural terms, The Guardian (1992)

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Authors A–Z
“The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.”
— Carl Bernstein
VerifiedAn A-Z of cultural terms, The Guardian (1992) · evidenceNews
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Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: An A-Z of cultural terms, The Guardian (1992).

APA

Bernstein, C. (n.d.). The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/31229-the-greatest-felony-in-the-news-business-today/

MLA

Bernstein, Carl. “The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/31229-the-greatest-felony-in-the-news-business-today/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Bernstein, Carl. “The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/31229-the-greatest-felony-in-the-news-business-today/.

Related quotes

More quotes by Carl Bernstein

“The lowest form of popular culture -- lack of information, misinformation, misinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives -- has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.”
VerifiedAn A-Z of cultural terms, The Guardian (1992) · evidenceDetails & citeJournalism and Journalists
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“We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.”
VerifiedAn A-Z of cultural terms, The Guardian (1992) · evidenceDetails & citeCulture
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All 3 Carl Bernstein quotes →